Advancements in computing technology have enabled computers to transition from high-cost, low function devices to low cost machines that can perform a myriad of tasks. For example, today's consumer-level computing devices typically are packaged with an operating system that enables word processing applications, multimedia applications, network browsing applications, and the like to be employed by owners/users of the devices. This advanced functionality is no longer solely associated with immobile desktop computers. Rather, portable devices, such as portable telephones, personal digital assistants, instant messaging devices, and the like are currently capable of playing video, music, composing documents, composing and sending emails, and the like. Furthermore, both personal computers and portable devices typically include and/or are associated with graphical user interfaces that allow images to be viewed with increasing clarity. For example, many portable phones are equipped with digital cameras, and images can be viewed on screens of the portable phones. The images can also be delivered (e.g., over a cellular network) to another phone or device for display, retention, and/or transmission to yet another device.
Robust displays, enhanced networking, satellite images, increased storage capacity, and other related technology has enabled robust maps to be provided to desktop computers and portable devices. For example, a user can access a mapping website through entering a URL in a field of a web browser. Additionally, mapping applications can now be run from a computer, where the application connects to a server associated with the mapping application to provide a user with mapping data. Initially, these mapping applications included graphical representations of roadways and some monuments, thereby enabling users of the applications to quickly review a road system of a particular region. Mapping applications also often include route planning applications, wherein a user can provide a point of beginning and a point of destination of a journey and the route planning application can determine a route of travel between the two provided points.
As aerial imagery, satellite imagery, oblique aerial imagery and street-side imagery have become associated with traditional mapping for higher resolution visualization of a place, the mapping applications have evolved to enable display of those digital images of a region. For instance, a user can provide a mapping application with an address of a house, and a satellite image of a region surrounding such house can be returned to the user. The user can then alter zoom levels to review the house more closely or to gain additional context associated with the house (e.g., location of a highway with respect to the house). The images provided to users are becoming increasingly clear as aerial and satellite equipment is updated, such that users can review details such as location of fence lines, type of roof, and the like.
These digital and/or graphical representations are not solely limited to houses, as businesses, government buildings, and the like can be photographed with high resolution by a variety of satellites, aerial, or ground acquisition techniques. Moreover, computer-generated graphics can be employed to supplement (or take place of) these images, thereby enabling provision of details such as location of particular offices, alarms, and the like. The general public, however, need not have access to sensitive data (such as location of a safe within a business).